For eight years, the American Left hammered the Bush administration’s approach to international terror. Barack Obama, by contrast, was going to “restore” American’s image abroad by undertaking a grand “Muslim outreach” initiative – a combination of obsequious apologies, a distortion of American history over-emphasizing Muslim “contributions,” and a determination to extend the “hand of diplomacy” to some of the worst actors on the planet. How are Mr. Obama’s “enlightened” efforts working out? Here’s how:
The State Department has just issued an alert for all Americans traveling to, or living in, Europe:
Current information suggests that al Qaeda and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks. European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions. Terrorists may elect to use a variety of means and weapons and target both official and private interests. U.S. citizens are reminded of the potential for terrorists to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure. Terrorists have targeted and attacked subway and rail systems, as well as aviation and maritime services.
ABC News is even more direct: “the terror plotters have moved through the surveillance stage, checked back in with al Qaeda in Pakistan, and have received the go-ahead to strike.”
Bottom line: This is a smackdown of pie-in-the-sky progressives, who will be forced to continue wondering “why they hate us” and why such thugs are apparently immune to the “new tone” of the Obama administration. What eludes our leftist elitists? Well, it’s actually one simple fact: That those who yearn for a worldwide Islamic Caliphate have no interest in compromise. They wish to annihilate Western civilization, and they are ready to do so by any means necessary.
On Sunday, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, upset that his country’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons has kept America’s “military option” available, offered this bit of “diplo-speak” to a diplomacy-addicted Obama administration:
“May the undertaker bury you, your table and your body, which has soiled the world.”
It is necessary to remind Americans that Ahmadinejad is a front man for the real Iranian power-brokers, the mullahs. What animates the mullahs is a nihilist theocracy which centers around the re-emergence of the Twelfth or Hidden Imam. According to their interpretation of the Koran, a period of chaos must precede the Imam’s return, one which the mullahs have repeatedly made clear that they are more than willing to facilitate as a means of establishing the permanent ascendancy of Islam.
The American Left largely dismisses this reality, suggesting it is similar to the fire-and-brimstone elements of Christianity which talk the radical talk but never walk the radical walk. Their fallback position if Iran gets the bomb? Containment.
Bottom line: President Obama blew a grand opportunity when he decided not to “meddle” in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fraudulent re-election, despite the fact that regime change is the only realistic alternative to military action. He might have maintained an ounce of credibility were it not for the fact that he was more than willing to meddle with Honduras when the populace arrested and deported wannabe president-for-life Manuel Zelaya. As for containment, it is likely to have the same “success” as sanctions and for the same reason: China and the Russians continue to do billions of dollars of business with Iran.
Now the Pakistani government has shut down a key border crossing used to supply U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. NATO helicopters killed three Pakistani troops after claiming those troops opened fire first. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik calls for an investigation to determine, “whether we are allies or enemies.” Taliban forces take advantage of the incident and destroy twenty supply trucks parked by the side of the road, killing four and injuring seven.
Pakistan complains about NATO and U.S. incursions into its territory even as it demonstrates an unwillingness to move against terrorist operation centers in North Waziristan. The Obama administration’s policy appears equally muddled: increased usage of drones amounts to a holding action as the president tries to find a middle ground between effective military strategy and offending an ally–as well as the anti-war faction of the Democrat party.
Bottom line: Pakistan is an “ally” in name only. The grim reality is that this country, not Afghanistan, is the true front in the war on terror. Yet much like Afghanistan and Iraq, the president appears content with the progressive worldview regarding all U.S. military operations: losing is endurable, a stalemate is acceptable–and victory is unnecessary.
Russia sold Syria advanced surface-to-sea and sea-to-sea missiles, ignoring Israeli requests not to do so. ”We’ve known about this deal for a while, and we held meetings with Russians at every level. Unfortunately the sale went through,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We are living with the threat of a new variety of missiles and rockets, and we must have a military response to them.”
Syria is also strengthening ties with Hezbollah and Hamas, supplying the former with “Iranian made M-600 missiles” and the latter with “cutting-edge anti-tank weaponry,” according to Haaretz.com.
As for Iran itself, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad had this to say as recently as last Saturday: ”We have stood beside Iran in a brotherly way from the very beginning of the (Iranian Islamic) revolution. We are two governments and nations which are brothers.“ Assad was in Tehran at the time, where he received that country’s highest medal of honor for supporting Palestinians and Lebanon–and for resisting the “global arrogance” of the West.
His take on the current Palestinian-Israeli peace talks? ”The negotiations follow no goal but are merely intended to improve the Obama administration’s image domestically,” said al-Assad.
Bottom line: It’s becoming painfully clear that the Obama administration’s attempt to improve relations with Russia, symbolized by the so-called “re-set button,” accrues to Russia’s interests only. As for Syria, progressive cluelessness was epitomized by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in 2007 when she uttered the immortal phrase, ”the road to Damascus is a road to peace.” No it’s not, Ms. Pelosi. Despite all diplomatic overtures, Syria is allying itself with the nation they consider the “stronger horse”–Iran.
Much like the essential economic question, aka “are you better off now than you were X number of years ago?” the Obama administration’s Muslim outreach efforts produce similar questions: Is the world a safer place than it was under the Bush administration? Is America’s image among so-called moderate Muslims substantially better? Has the dovish approach of the Obama administration reduced the threat of Islamic jihadism more than the “cowboy” approach of the Bush administration?
Despite scorching criticism by progressives, that cowboy approach yielded tangible results: The removal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, Libya surrendering its pursuit of WMDs, the removal of two brutal governments in Afghanistan and Iraq and the severe crippling of al Qaeda’s operational capabilities.
The Obama administration’s approach? Ironically, it is at its most effective when it emulates the Bush administration’s aggressive tactics, and least effective when it attempts to placate leftist Kumbay-esque sensibilities.
Bottom, bottom line: The sooner the West realizes that it is in a struggle of civilizational proportions, the easier it will be to deal with that struggle. The alternative? ”Waiting for Mumbai 2” and the incremental adoption of self-imposed dhimmitude–masquerading itself as “multicultural flexibility.”
It is incredibly sad to have to say this, but Western salvation may hinge on the successful execution of a terrorist plot exactly like the one currently in the headlines.
In other words, innocents may have to die so that those blinded by progressive ideology may see.
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